


parapraxis

by perennials



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), College, M/M, i mean still canon kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 14:18:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15753429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perennials/pseuds/perennials
Summary: Kei notices, beyond the shine of Kuroo’s stupid kissable lips, which he cannot take his eyes off of, that his ears are pink.





	parapraxis

Kuroo is softer than he lets on. Kei discovers this two months into, well, whatever this is. Whatever it is they’ve got going between them, the whole subtle glances and pink ears and accidentally-brushing-hands-under-the-library-table mess of it.

 

University is a strange place to be in. The previous captain of Nekoma‘s presence does not help. Kei is already suitably overwhelmed by all the lectures and looming buildings and blurry faces of people whose names he should probably know by now, but can’t quite recall. He does not want to have to deal with Kuroo, too.

 

But Kuroo, determined to project as much bullshit into the atmosphere as he can get away with, has other plans. He pushes the pens and papers off of Kei’s figurative study desk and then plants himself in the middle, dangling his long legs off the side like a child. He says  _ I didn’t expect to see you here Tsukki _ in the hallway one afternoon, leaning far too much into Kei’s personal space, and then grins like he had absolutely expected it. He establishes a  _ friendship. _

 

And now there is this not-friendship thing.

 

Kuroo is softer than he lets on. When Kei trips over nothing and falls because he is too busy secretly staring at the sharp line of Kuroo’s jaw, Kuroo bursts into earth-shattering laughter. It is a horrible laugh, because it reminds Kei of really catchy pop songs which are fundamentally meaningless but are impossible to get out of your head anyway. Kuroo is sort of impossible to get out of Kei’s head no matter what he does.

 

Frankly speaking, Kei should be more bothered than he is, but after Kuroo is done being horrible he pulls Kei back to his feet, and in the ensuing pat-down he runs his hands up and down the length of Kei’s torso, his arms, his legs.

 

“Checking for bruises,” he murmurs absently. His touch is feather-light and ticklish on Kei’s skin.

 

“Unnecessary,” Kei manages. Just barely.

 

“Necessary.” Kuroo’s hands find their way up to Kei’s cheeks and stay there, fingers rubbing small circles into his skin. A lopsided, insistent smirk spreads like butter across his face.

 

Kei notices, beyond the shine of Kuroo’s stupid kissable lips, which he cannot take his eyes off of, that his ears are pink. It is a triumphant observation; Kuroo is human, after all. Kuroo is annoying, but Kuroo is human.

 

Without warning, Kei leans forward, pressing a quick kiss to Kuroo’s cheek.

 

“Unnecessary,” he repeats. “But appreciated.”

 

He turns and walks away.

  
  


//

  
  


Kuroo is softer than he lets on, because afterwards he finds his voice where it had apparently deserted him the day that Kei tripped over nothing.

 

Leaning against the entrance of Kei’s dorm room in skinny jeans and a red sweater (he will never not be attached to Nekoma and the sleek outline of a cat, Kei thinks), toeing nervously at the ground with black Nikes, he offers up a small smile. Kei almost drops his hot chocolate, but catches himself just in time. It is seven in the evening, the sky outside just fading into night.

 

Anyway Kuroo finds his voice, which is a very nice voice, and then with it dissolves the whole nameless whatever-it-is between them. He does this by giving it a name.

 

“I’m in love with you.” His smile wavers a little. Human.

 

There it is, that thing that Kei hasn’t been able to articulate for the last two months. Highlighted in obnoxiously endearing neon pink, the way he knows Kuroo likes to go over his economics notes in the library.

 

_ I’m in love with you,  _ Kuroo says, like he hasn’t flipped the world upside down and then stepped on it. Oh, how ruthless of him. Kei wants to step on him. Figuratively.

 

“I know,” Kei says in response, and doesn’t walk away, and because Kuroo is a mind-reading alien in cahoots with Oikawa from law he understands what Kei knows, and doesn’t know, and wants to know.

 

Then Kuroo kisses Kei properly, and Kei stops wanting anything. He thinks, beyond the haze of hot breath and fingers in his hair and his urgently beating heart, that the bruises from falling down were worth it after all. A thoroughly necessary affair.

 

Kuroo’s stupid kissable lips, Kei discovers, are actually very soft when he is not grinning with malicious intent. Kei is full of fascinating discoveries now. Kei is full of—

 

He supposes he can admit to himself, and Kuroo and his pretty hazel doe-eyes that it is love, now. So he does that. He makes that admission.

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/nikiforcvs) or [tumblr](http://corpsentry.tumblr.com/)
> 
> written for a pairing prompt on titter and then beefed up in school because i left my fucking pencil case at home today. also wow damn it sure feels weird writing lighthearted shit after the mess that is the great big map. i mean. it's a nice mess. but yeah just stretching my slice of life muscles a bit brb
> 
> have a good one


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